'Proper Hammering' - KL Rahul Ready To Have 'Difficult Conversations' After Loss To KKR
KL Rahul in action vs KKR (AP)
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) coped with an eight-wicket hammering at the hands of hosts KKR in match number 28 of the IPL 2024 season on April 14. Defending 162 for a win, KL Rahul and co. were blown away by KKR opener Phil Salt’s obliterating 47-ball 89* in a spectacular run-chase.
After the match, losing skipper Rahul acknowledged the huge margin of defeat, and claimed that he is ready to have a dressing down with the rest of his LSG colleagues going ahead in the tournament.
KL Rahul says defeat to KKR a ‘proper hammering’
KKR routed LSG by eight wickets and with more than four overs still intact in the game at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on April 14.
While speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, losing skipper KL Rahul acknowledged the huge margin of defeat for the second time in succession this IPL 2024 season. Examining team’s recent form and hinting out at an overall assessment of LSG’s performance, he said:
“It was a proper hammering. Sometimes, games like these are tough to digest. But that always happen in cricket and every team goes through those in IPL. Not panicking but you can’t put your feet up and hope the results go your way. We will look to see where we went wrong and have some difficult conversations. But in the last few games, we haven’t been able to get past 160 and we’ll work on it.”
KL Rahul further claimed that his batters failed to capitalise on a “good batting wicket” upfront by losing crucial wickets at regular intervals. According to the wicketkeeper-batter, his team fell 30 runs short of a par total. He added:
“In the first innings, the wicket was good. I can’t say we played bad shots. But we kept losing wickets in bunches and it creates more pressure on the batting unit. I felt we left at least 30 runs there and if our lower-order batters had stayed there, we could have got to a good total.”
KL Rahul further expressed his excitement over having West Indies sensation Shamar Joseph on board. The Guyana-based speedster hurled down a series of thunderbolts, and even clocked over 150kph at one stage of his spell. The LSG captain said:
“Shamar was excited to bowl. He was a bit off with his lines but he bowled quick and got the ball to nip. He has to work on his consistency a bit.”
KL Rahul will now lead his LSG troops against defending champions CSK in match number 34 of the IPL 2024 season.
The much-awaited contest will be staged at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on April 19.